1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a pitch control assembly for a musical drum, and more specifically to such assemblies that are disposed on the exterior of the drums on which they are employed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Adjusting the tension of a drum head to vary the pitch of a standard drum has long been a tedious and inconvenient task that involves a separate adjustment of a plurality of adjustable units connected between a drumhead tension band and the body portion of the drum. In the past, various drum constructions have been proposed to make such adjustment easier. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,051,671 and 2,061,244, to Au-Miller disclose relatively elaborate arrangements that are disposed inside a drum for achieving pitch adjustment by manipulation of a single adjusting mechanism and patents to Hull and Newberry, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,550,249, and 1,901,765 and 2,115,741, respectively, disclose the use of rotatable rings that provide a cam action to vary drum head tension.
The present invention provides a pitch control assembly that operates on a cam action principle and in that respect falls in the same general class as that of the Newberry and Hull inventions. However, the structure of the present invention is entirely different from that disclosed by Newberry and Hull so as to provide a pitch control assembly that is simple to manipulate and efficient in operation to easily and quickly effect precise tension adjustments.